Welfare Drug Test Plan Faces Hurdles

Despite the repeal of similar laws in other states, Tennessee is moving ahead with a plan to drug test some welfare applicants, the Tennessean reports. Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, sponsored the bill last year, giving the Department of Human Resources until July 1, 2014, to implement it. Campfield and other proponents say the law would be considered successful if it drives down the number of welfare applicants simply because they knew they would be tested. Pam McMichael, executive director of the New Market-based Highlander Research and Education Center, opposes the law, saying "It doesn't take stigmas away, it doesn't make our neighborhoods safer … It's an extension of an already unsuccessful war on drugs." WBIR has this story on issues other states have faced trying to implement similar laws.